It was late at night, after the children went to sleep, that Pamela Burford quietly started cooking Peruvian sweets in her Luling kitchen.
“When I was starting and would have my final product, try it and then cry because it was the closest thing I had to my culture in this country,” Burford said. “I would roll my dough and that would be my exercise. It was a way to balance being a fulltime mother with growing something or something that I like … just me.”
Over time, her sweet cravings became a recipe for success that lent to her starting her own business called Peru Sweets.
And she unhesitatingly says the concept began while they lived in Luling for three years. The family moved to New Orleans last year.
It’s an online business that is drawing both Latin and American customers, and it’s by design.
Burford began by working on a cookie called Alfajores, a sweet piece of Peruvian delicacy. It is a sandwich cookie with a soft, gentle top and bottom resembling a tea cookie filled with her homemade “manjar blanco” or manjar de leche that is a milk-based caramel crème center with origins in Spain. Once done, she topped it with powdered sugar.
“I didn’t know how to cook, and the first time they came out awful,” she said. “They came out hard as a rock. It was not the right thing. It’s a very hard cookie to make, and it took me a long time.”
With Burford’s determination, this would soon change.She estimated it took three years to perfect the cookie, a task she committed to so her creations would be the best example of Peruvian cuisine.
With the final version in hand, Burford started getting orders from her Peruvian friends while they were still in Luling. She held tea parties and invited friends to taste the cookies.
“Thanks to my American friends and this empowering environment, I am designing my desserts in [a] whole new label,” Burford said. “Now, I am recreating more Peruvian products, all of them made old style, but with original presentations that think beyond a dessert for the table.”Burford said she is offering “a fully Peruvian experience” that leaves her customers wanting more. She packages her creations in the most convenient ways, ready to go, to eat, to bring as a gift or keep seals to make the experience last longer.
She was thrilled to describe her “most healthy carrot cake” filled with organic ingredients including roasted coconut and pecans, and raisins.
“No icing … just goodies to enjoy with coffee or as a high protein source for adults and kids,” Burford said.
She’s in the process of starting a new line of “chocotjas” or confections with roasted pecans or coconut coated with a thin layer of dulce de leche and another coat of dark chocolate.
“It started as a hobby and now everything has started to come together,” Burford said. “In Luling, it was research. My sweets are Peruvian, but I want to make sweets that appeal to both cultures. In my case, it’s having fun with it, giving a little piece of my culture to others.”
Her “alfajores” are amazing!! Her “dulce de leche” to die for!!